The crew of @HMSDiamond are continuing to save innocent lives in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Yesterday Diamond became the first Royal Navy ship to shoot down a missile since 1991 - when they destroyed a Houthi missile targeting merchant vessels.

When I set out my priorities as Defence Secretary I declared the era of the peace dividend over.

Since then Rishi Sunak and I have kept that promise with new funding that rises to the moment - empowering our Armed Forces to deter our enemies, lead our allies & defend our nation.

This ANZAC day we join our allies in remembering the sacrifice of those from Australia and New Zealand that gave everything in the service of our collective freedom and to celebrate the enduring friendship and cooperation which keeps each of our nations safe 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿

The incredible men and women across the Ministry of Defence that I briefed yesterday will now have record amounts of funding to defend our nation.

£75bn more to empower them to put industry on a war footing, modernise our Armed Forces and support Ukraine.

The costs of war would be unimaginable - which is why we must do more to deter Britain’s enemies.

Our £75bn uplift will prove that Britain is more serious about our defence than at any point since the Cold War.

Threats to global peace are growing. Our Armed Forces must be able to fight and win against any enemy.

That’s why we’ve increased defence spending by an unprecedented £75bn over the next 6 years.

📰Read my article on today’s Daily Mail:

dailymail.co.uk/debate/article…

Today’s £75 billion uplift in defence spending is an undeniable message to Britain’s enemies.

Leaving no doubt of our resolve to protect Britain from the threats of a more dangerous world.

I believe we must do more to defend our country, our interests, and our values.

That starts today.

The United Kingdom will always play its part at the forefront of European security.

Today I’m in Poland for that very reason.

If Putin wins it will be open season for any dictator to plunge the world into war and chaos.

That’s why the UK has always been the first to step up and why today we’ve announced our largest ever military donation to back those Ukrainian’s defending freedom’s frontline 🇬🇧🇺🇦

First: we said our support to Ukraine would never waver.

Then: we pledged our largest ever funding to support Ukraine, earlier this year.

Now: we’re going further with a new £500m and our largest ever donation of military equipment. Taking our total support to £3bn this year.

The Royal Air Force is saving lives by getting desperately needed aid directly into Gaza.

In the last few hours we’ve successfully completed the UK’s seventh airdrop and we will not stop there -  I am personally committed to ramping up UK aid to save more innocent lives.